It's just like Soda to go all deep on me like that. Well that oughta teach him. Friends or not - you don't bring that up. Ever. Dallas paced back and forth in the vacant lot for awhile, before deciding what to further do with himself. He started walking, to no specific place. Just walked.
And ended up at the cemetary where Johnny was buried. He cursed at himself for coming here, feeling the verge of an emotional breakdown and a serious migraine coming on. He'd suffered from both of those since he was little kid. He debated for awhile whether to walk around casually looking for Johnny's grave, or ask straight for help. The second option would probably be faster, therefore he could get this over with already; but he didn't like to play by the rules. Nope, Dallas Winston never takes the easy way out. He wandered around for what seemed eternity, but in reality only ten minutes had passed before he found someone to help him out.
"Hiya son, what can I do for you?" Asked the guy mowing the cemetary lawn.
"Cade - I'm looking for Johnny Cade's grave."
"What?" The guy couldn't hear over the roaring of the mower's engine.
"Johnny Cade's grave. Where is it?" Dally was somewhat impatient, somewhat afraid. The man pointed left of the lawn mower. Dallas waved him off and walked slowly that way. Johnny's grave was hard to miss, all the boys - except Dally, who was in the hospital, the school system, and even his parents chipped in a little on his gravestone. It was about three foot tall out of the ground, marble stone, and engraved in fine script. It read:
Johnathon Austin Cade; 1949-1965
Son to Melanie R. Cade and Jack W. Cade
Beloved friend to all.
Always in our thoughts,
Dallas Winston, Darry Curtis, Ponyboy Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, Keith Mathews, & Steve Randle.
"He rescued us all, a true hero." - Two-Bit.
Dally was surprised and yet flattered that the boys put his name first on Johnny's stone, I think it was evidence enough to everyone that Dally loved and needed Johnny the most. There was a crack of thunder in the backround, perfect. It suited Dally's mood fine, he hardly noticed it.
"How're you doing, buddy?" He started, quietly. There was so much to say, but he couldn't find the words to say them. "You've got quite a lot of people missing you right now, Johnnycake. Mostly me, man. I know Pony's taking it rough though, too," he paused to take a deep breath. His voice was starting to quiver. There was no way he was going to lose it here, in public. Even if this was the most acceptable place to bawl. "Johnny we all told you we couldn't get along without you. Why you? Why'd you leave me, Johnny? I can't take much more of life. Without you it's just too hard. You remember when I'd get hacked off at something, and you'd sit down and have a smoke with me at the park? Well I can't do that now. I can be there by myself, but it ain't the same without you. It doesn't take away the pain anymore. I guess that's life. You were a good person, Johnny. And that's what you get. That's what we all get. Another rough break!" Dallas couldn't choke back his sobs now. He rested his head in his arm that was on the gravestone, he was crying. About losing Johnny, about being a greaser, about his life, his childhood..everything. It was raining lightly now, but Dallas was dry from the old willow tree that would act as a shade from the burning summer sun, protection from the fierce rain of fall and spring, and the snowy days of winter in Oklahoma. Dallas didn't know how long he sat there, time seemed irrelevent. He took out Two-Bit's knife, and started engraving one last thing into the gravestone, it took awhile, but chip after chip he finally finished.
I love you Johnnycake, and I'm proud of you. - Dally.
Just then, he heard footsteps from behind him and found Steve. Startled, he put the knife away and jumped up. He felt really dizzy.
"What, man?"
"Dal, there's a tornado coming. You gotta get back to the house. We've been searching for you for hours, pal." Steve told him, looking slightly concerned. Dally realized he must look a mess. With chips of stone all over his black tee shirt and jeans, puffy red eyes and windblown hair. The wind was pretty fierce. He hadn't noticed until then.
Dally followed Steve in silence, when they got back to the Curtis's, Sodapop rushed up to him. His usual solid, laughing brown eyes had turned to liquid in guilt and sympathy.
"I'm really sorry, Dally. I wasn't thinking straight. I-"
"It's cool, man. I know. Don't say nothin' more about it." Dally finished. Soda hugged him, happy and grinning once again.
"It's that time of the year again in Oklahoma, there's a big tornado heading down the alley. Tulsa's going to get hit, along with all the other counties on the Southwestern end of Oklahoma." A news reporter chimed in on the television. Almost as if on cue, an earsplitting crash of thunder shook the house, followed by a bolt of lightning that knocked out the electricity. Everyone heard Ponyboy jump and gasp, and Soda whispered something, trying to calm him down.
"Easy Ponyboy," Darry ordered. "Alright everyone, away from the windows." Dallas and Two-Bit took a seat behind the loveseat, you could barely see anything except the faint light of daytime through the small windows. Steve sat in the corner by the television, and Darry brought out a mattress to cover Sodapop and Ponyboy. He peeked out of the window, keeping a safe distance. Nobody had really been through a major tornado before, just the bunches of storms and wind as side effects. Good thing Johnny ain't here, he'd be scared to death. Dally thought vaguely. Johnny was scared of anything loud or sudden. Like thunder and lightning. He hated storms, they reminded him too much of his parents. In an odd way; Dally knew how he felt. The storm started whenever it wanted to, got loud and uncontrollable, and you couldn't predict when it would end. Sometimes it would go on all night, sometimes just a few minutes. Just like Johnny's parents when they fought with eachother or him. Dallas rested his head against the wall, exhausted.
Next thing he knew, the electricity had came back on and everyone was laughing and joking around. Dallas stood up, dumbfounded, rubbing his head where the migraine had passed.
"What?" Was all he managed to whimper, he was naseuas.
"We don't know. We thought you fell asleep, but gee. It was like you were dead to the world, Dal. You mighta blacked out. The storms been over for awhile now. The tornado just missed us. I bet the Soc side of town got hit real good, though." Two-Bit grinned good-naturedly.
Things came back into focus, another thing Dallas suffered from was abrupt fainting. Especially before or after migraines. It was weird though, nothing so serious has happened since he was twelve.
"If you were sleepin', you're the first I know of to be able to do so during a tornado." Steve joked, and went back to talking to Soda. Ponyboy was reading a book, and Two-Bit was flipping through t.v channels. Darry sounded like he was in the bedroom, probably doing laundry.
"Yeah, well I think I'm going to go to bed." Dallas said, walking toward Soda's old room. A sudden knock on the door stopped him, he was curious. Sodapop jumped up and answered it, and all the gang seemed to wait. Nobody besides the gang rarely came to the door.
"Uhm, Hi Cherry. Come in?" Sodapop seemed caught off guard.
"Hi, guys. I was just dropping by to see Ponyboy. I wanted to apoligize for something," she went on, but Dally zoned out. He knew exactly what it was. He overhead Pony talking to Soda about it. Cherry completely dissed him at school, acted like she never saw him before. It hurt Pony bad.
"Cherry, now's not a good time." Two-Bit said. You just don't show up at someone's house after a tornado. You just don't.
"Oh, okay. Well, Ponyboy I guess I'll talk to you at school monday?" She asked hopefully.
"Okay," Ponyboy's eyes lit up. Dallas was disgusted. How could he let a little broad like that tear him up inside then look at her like she was gold afterward? He snuck out of the room and got in the tiny bed, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
- OKAY guys :D my writer's block is over, and I'm actually really proud of this chapter! A little preview on what I'm doing next:
I think the gang is going to end up walking around town the next day after the storm, and Two-Bit wisecracks on the a group of Socs. The gangs get in an angsty fight, and someone ends up really hurt. This is going to cause another rumble between the Socs and Greasers eventually, but not until later on in the next few chapters. Also! Dallas is going to do something that will get him into a LOT of trouble.
WARNING : I'm going to be switching POVs between characters in the next few chapters, because of what's going to happen next. I promise it will all revolve around Dally, and I'll mainly focus on him. You just get to get inside the other character's heads, too.